California Film Commission

Re “ Film tax credits rip off states ,” Column, Aug. 4 Michael Hiltzik raised some good points but left out many important facts about the success of California's Film and Television Incentive Program. He raised questions on how we incentivize film production to stay here in California. As the author of AB 3, legislation seeking to extend the incentive program next year, stakeholders and I have been working for months to see how we can make improvements. Hiltzik cited a letter by the Legislative Analyst's Office to show that film tax credits aren't a good deal for Californians.

Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed film industry veteran Eve Honthaner as deputy director of the California Film Commission to help lead its efforts to retain and grow movie, TV and commercial production in the state, the group said Monday. Honthaner, who joined the commission as a consultant in February, is replacing Jim Fitzpatrick, who retired last year. Her duties include managing film-permitting operations, troubleshooting production issues, working with regional film offices and supporting marketing and outreach.

The life of Beach Boys co-founder and California native Brian Wilson gets the hometown treatment in “Love & Mercy,” a feature film produced by television veteran John Wells (“ER,” “The West Wing,” “Southland”), Bill Pohlad (who is also the director) and Claire Rudnick Polstein. The biographical drama is shooting in the Hollywood area as well as in various locations around Southern California. John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti co-star in the story of the legendary musician, songwriter and producer who helped create the iconic California sound that made the group famous in the 1960s -- before mental health battles sidelined him. Other feature films scheduled to shoot locally include Jon Favreau's food truck comedy “Chef,” filming in Hancock Park, and the thriller “The Vatican Tapes,” filming in Eagle Rock, according to FilmL.A.

The hit series "Teen Wolf" is a top-ranked cable show among young viewers. It also ranks at the top of the list when it comes to receiving California film tax breaks. On Tuesday, the MTV series was approved for an estimated $11-million tax credit for its fourth season -- by far the highest among 31 projects that won a piece of the $100 million the state awards annually to film and TV projects, state records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times show. TV shows are eligible to receive a tax credit equivalent to 20% of qualified production costs.

The California Film Commission saw a nearly 20% jump in the number applications for its annual film tax credit lottery. The Film Commission said 380 projects had applied for a piece of the $100 million the state allocates annually for film and television projects. That's up nearly 18% from a year ago, when only 28 projects were approved for credits -- the same number that were approved on Monday. Film Commission officials said the winning projects would be identified Tuesday, after applicants have been notified.

The director watches a monitor as an actor rushes down a staircase into a basement wine cellar, searching among the racks of bottles for his childhood crush. The wine cellar is actually a plywood set on the ground floor of a converted Northridge warehouse, one of several newly constructed sets where the MTV series "Teen Wolf" recently began filming its third season after moving from Georgia. "Teen Wolf" is a rarity - a show that relocated to Los Angeles from elsewhere to take advantage of California's film and TV tax credit program since it took effect in 2009.

When Warner Bros. wanted to shut down a highway for a scene from “The Hangover Part III” last month, they filmed the action not on the 405 Freeway but on a stretch of California 73 between Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Despite complaints from some, the two-day film shoot -- which took three months of planning -- was a high profile boost to Orange County, which has been trying to recover some of the film and TV business it lost over the last several years because of the recession and the migration of work to other areas outside of California.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments has joined a coalition of business and industry organizations in endorsing a standardized set of policies for on-location production. The groups see adoption of these standards across the various city and county jurisdictions in Southern California as a way to compete with outside locales for film, television and commercial production. The association's regional council unanimously moved last week to encourage its member cities to use the guidelines in developing their own local filming regulations and permitting procedures. “One of the constant refrains I hear from filmmakers is the need for predictability and uniformity in the film permit process," Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A., said in a statement.

Producer Andrew Lazar was all set to shoot an adult romantic comedy in Hermosa Beach, where the story is set. But now, he's forced to have the $10-million movie rewritten with Miami Beach as the backdrop so he can take advantage of Florida's film tax credit. The reason: His film didn't make the cut of 28 projects approved last week for California's state film tax credits. “I'll just have to change the location and the script because these tax credits are so important for making movies," said Lazar.

Annette Bening, Al Pacino, Ed Harris and several other celebrities helped power a surge in feature film shoots on the streets of Los Angeles last month, but film industry officials were hardly star-struck. Thanks to a flurry of low-budget celebrity-packed pictures, location shoots jumped 74% in April over last year, continuing double-digital gains from the first quarter of the year, according to FilmL.A. Inc., a nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and the county.